Have you been praying for a certain blessing, and the answer seems never to have come? You have been persistent in prayer, as Jesus tells us to do (we "ought always to pray, and not to faint," Luke 18:1), and still the answer has not come. You have asked Him to show you what might be wrong, what might he hindering your prayers (Peter says that if a man doesn't treat his wife right his prayers will be "hindered," 1 Peter 3:7), and God has not told you of anything wrong that might be "hindering" the answer. The Holy Spirit does not convict you of failure to do any known duty, even though you kneel before God and beg Him to notice you and to instruct you. Still you ask Him for that special blessing and it doesn't come.
Welcome to Job's "Club," the Society of Unanswered Pray-ers. You are not alone. The Prime Member is Jesus Himself. He prayed "with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared," but still He had to go to the cross and die (cf Heb. 5:7). The next verse reminds us that "Though He were a Son," yet He had to learn the lessons of life as we do "by the things which He suffered." But for sure He does not want you to duplicate the agony He suffered on the cross, nor even the agony which Job suffered.
There is an answer to your perplexity and disappointment. Let's notice several possibilities: (a) God may be working hard to give you a "yes" answer but He cannot force the will of some person who may be "withstanding" Him; that's what happened about one of Daniel's earnest prayers (cf. 10:13). If that's what's happening, you can be sure that the dear Lord is as merciful to you as He was to Daniel, and He will impress your heart with the conviction of truth. He will save you from discouragement. (b) The answer may be in process. and it just takes more time. This could be true if you are praying for a loved one.
Remember that on the cross Christ accomplished something for "every man," which makes it possible for Him to treat "every man" as though that person has never sinned (see Matt. 5:45)--Christ has already died that person's second death, and therefore He treats him/her just as though that person is going to be saved. This is the meaning of that interesting phrase "legal justification." Now, you do the same; treat that person as though you fully expect that your prayers are already answered, and that person is going to be saved just as you are. Draw a "circle" that includes that person inside. Don't say, "Oh, that person is far from being ready!" The closer you come to Jesus the more of His skill and wisdom you will share, because you will have "the mind of Christ" (Phil. 2:5).
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 20, 2001.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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